Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Day 2 of the CrossFit Games started with a bang. At 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, while most people in L.A. were sleeping off their Friday night hangovers, the individual competitors were throwing themselves into Event 4 -- a triplet/sprint workout.

For time:

5 Muscle-ups

10 Deadlifts (245lbs / 165lbs)

15 GHD Sit-ups

Sprint 50 yards

5 Muscle-ups

10 Deadlifts (245lbs / 165lbs)

15 GHD Sit-ups

Sprint 100 yards

5 Muscle-ups

10 Deadlifts (245lbs / 165lbs)

15 GHD Sit-ups

Sprint 150 yards

It looked like a nice, brutal metcon -- and interestingly, the barbells were loaded with smaller change plates, thus extending the necessary range of motion.

The final heats -- in both the men's and women's competitions -- were the most fun to watch. In Heat 4, Graham Holmberg and Jason Khalipa jousted for the lead position in Heat 4, with Khalipa gutting it out in the end (with a time of 7:28) to beat Holmberg (7:55). And Josh Bridges won the final heat with a 7:14 finish, though Rich Froning's 7:24 time thrust him into first place overall among the men. As for the women, the final heat was won by Michelle Kinney (with an 8:14 time), with Kristan Clever not far behind.

The day was turning into a bit of a scorcher, though, so we didn't stay put for long. After I met up with my buddy Mint (one of the original members of CrossFit Palo Alto's 5 a.m. class, who has since relocated to Southern California), we took a walk around the Home Depot Center.

Mint was on the lookout for baseball caps, while I started scouting out footwear. The Inov-8 tent had a few prototypes on display, including the zero-drop Bare-XF 210, which is scheduled to arrive in stores sometime next spring.

I don't know if you can tell, but I'm rubbing my hands together and licking my lips.

At noon, Mint and I decided to look for some grub. We got ourselves a couple of special "Protein Bowls" at the Wahoo's stand (which consisted of chicken, lettuce, tomatoes -- all drenched with hot sauce)...

...and when we met up with Tim, we headed out to the In-N-Out trucks in Tent City to top off with some burgers.

In the afternoon, my sister-in-law joined us at the Home Depot Center, so I accompanied her to the track to watch the individual competitors tackle Event 5. It was another skills test:

1 rep max (in 2 minutes) weighted chest-to-bar pull-up for load

1 rep max (in 2 minutes) snatch for load

5-gallon steel jug carry (weighted with lead shot and water) for distance in 60 seconds

A number of the women -- including Annie Thorisdottir, Annie Sakamoto and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet -- tied for the lead in the first portion of the event by cranking out chest-to-bar pull-ups while weighed down with an extra 60 pounds each. Lindsay Valenzuela notched the heaviest snatch (165 pounds), though Katie Hogan, Mona Pretorious, Clever and Thorisdottir tied with 155 pounds. Elisabeth Akinwale, meanwhile, carried the jugs for 364 feet, winning the final portion of the event.

As for the men, Lucas Parker won the chest-to-bar pull-ups with a 130 pound weight dangling from his belt. Aja Barto snatched 265 pounds -- a new Games record, which was tied by Spencer Hendel just one heat later. In the first heat of the jug carry, I was surprised to see Rob Orlando in the mix after almost drowning at the beach the previous day -- though it appears he was participating in the events "just for fun" now that he'd been DQ'ed. Another CrossFit strongman, Matt Chan, ended up taking first place in Event 5.

Back at the stadium, I couldn't help but notice the WattBikes that had been set up on one side of the competition area. The team competition was going to be good.

Team Event 5 required four members of each team -- two women and two men -- to complete a chipper:

20 shoulder-to-overheds (135lbs / 95lbs)

20 box jumps (24" / 20")

50-foot traverse of the "Killer Kage" monkey bar rig

50 double-unders

500 meters on a WattBike

50 double-unders

50-foot traverse of the "Killer Kage" monkey bar rig

20 box jumps (24" / 20")

20 shoulder-to-overheds (135lbs / 95lbs)

Insane -- especially considering that monkey-bar-routines aren't typically included in anyone's CrossFit training regimen. Not surprisingly, only about one-third of the teams managed to complete the event within the 16-minute cut-off time. At the end of Team Event 5, only the six teams with the top overall scores got the chance to advance to Day 3: Brick CrossFit, Front Range CrossFit, Team Taranis, Rocklin CrossFit, CrossFit Fort Vancouver, and CrossFit New England.

The WattBikes and Killer Kage stuck around for the individual competitions, too:

Three rounds for time of:

7 front squats (225lbs / 155lbs)

700 meters on the WattBike

100-foot traverse of the "Killer Kage" monkey bar rig

In the first heat of the men's competition, Tommy Hackenbruck struck first, fluidly moving through the monkey bars and finishing with a blazing-fast time of 6:35. No one else came close to beating his time until the fourth heat, which Spencer Hendel won in 6:24. Hendel's time was better than those of the competitors in the final heat, too -- which Josh Bridges won with a 6:36 time.

Emotions ran high as the women's heats got underway. As with the jug carry earlier in the day, Elisabeth Akinwale was the standout here, finishing the monkey bar traverses unbroken each time. That girl is STRONG. Akinwale -- a former gymnast -- finished in 6:56, more than good enough to win first place among the women in this event.

But even more inspiring? In the final heat, Annie Sakamoto had trouble cleaning the weight to start her front squats, and kept dropping the bar. No doubt her grip strength was fried after the monkey bars, but she kept at it, pushing and willing herself to get the barbell up into rack position. And even as she struggled, other competitors who had finished got behind her, shouting words of encouragement at Annie.

Mind you: This wasn't a group of folks at a zero-stakes CrossFit class, offering support to a fellow gym-goer as she finishes her metcon. These were elite competitors, vying for a quarter of a million dollars on a global stage. And yet even in this environment, under these circumstances, this is still CrossFit, where competition is inextricably intertwined with community.

It's moments like these -- and images like this one -- that make me so proud of our sport and those who participate in it.